Introduction

Angelo Baratta examines the history of management theory with a view to determining its effects on project management. How did current management theories develop? Well, people have been managing work for hundreds of years, and we can trace formal management ideas to the 1700s. But the most significant developments in management theory emerged in the 20th century. We owe much of our understanding of managerial practices to the many theorists of this period, who tried to understand how best to conduct business.

One of the earliest of these theorists was Frederick Winslow Taylor who may be said to have started it all. But what some people don't realize is when he started it. Believe or not, it was around the 1890's  over 100 years ago. Mr. Taylor and his followers up to this very day continue to boast of their successes. And indeed the Taylor approach, referred to as scientific management, does have many success stories. I call this era, Business Process 1.0. But since then, the challenges have increased dramatically. Read on for Business Processes 2 and 3.